Sports

USA grabs the gold in FINA men's water polo tourney

Luca Cupido scored a goal with two seconds left to lift the USA men's national water polo team to a 10-9 win over Australia on Sunday and the gold medal at the FINA Men's Intercontinental Tournament in Yokohama, Japan.

"This game was a much higher intensity than our first one with them," U.S. coach Dejan Udovicic said. "As a very young team, it is very important for us to keep winning. We deserved that last goal because we were better than our opponents, and we won all our games."

Stanford grad Alex Bowen also plays for Team USA.

"We're the youngest team in the world, so have a lot of room to improve," Udovicic said. "We need to work hard, and I think that we can still perform much better. Of course, everyone is preparing for the Olympic Games, but we have shown our potential this week."

Team USA finished the tournament with a 6-0 record, earning two wins over Australia in addition to victories against Japan, Kazakhstan, Brazil, and China.

All the competing teams except Kazakhstan qualified for the upcoming FINA World League Super Final this June in China.

The U.S. and Australia will meet in a two-game series in Southern California this weekend, beginning Friday at 7 p.m. in Claremont at Pomona-Pitzer's Haldeman Pool, and then on Sunday at 1 p.m. at USC's Uytengsu Aquatic Center. Sunday's match will air live on NBC Sports Network.